Locked Hearts
by wizwitch42
Summary: Leo has been raising his brothers for the past eight years, and things have been fine. Mostly. But when Don and Raph run into a human family while trying to get supplies, his world starts to change beyond his control.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay...I know I said I was on hiatus, but I'm a professional procrastinator. Plus, you guys are so wonderful, I couldn't keep you waiting!**

**Eve: You've kept me waiting.**

**If you would quit being difficult, maybe I would get through a chapter...Ignore her. She's in a different story.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, Ciro's initial idea for this show would've gone through.**

Leo reached up into the cabinet above his head and groped around a bit before grabbing what he was searching for—a box of cereal—and putting it down on the counter before repeating the process.

'_We're going to need to go scavenging again soon…'_ he thought to himself as he turned to go wake his brothers up.

First up was Raph.

At eighteen, he was only one year younger than Leo, though he didn't usually act it. Most of the time he acted like he never outgrew his rebellious teen phase, much to Leo's irritation.

"Yo, Raph, time to get up!" the oldest announced as he opened the door ad rapped his knuckles against the wood. When no movement came from the bed, he groaned to himself and walked over. "C'mon, we're not doing this again." Raph simply rolled over. Out of other options, the older yanked the blankets off the younger.

"What the Hell, Leo?!"

"Time to get up. If you're not in the kitchen by the time I get the others up, I will get the bucket."

Leo chose not to stay for Raph's response (mostly a lot of cussing) and instead headed to his next brother's room.

Donatello, turtle genius.

At fourteen, he was five years younger than his oldest brother, yet somehow surpassed him in intellect.

"Morning, Leo," Don greeted from his desk without looking up.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Instead of a verbal answer, he received a subtle nod. Donnie always had been the quiet one. "Breakfast is out." Another nod.

Knowing he wouldn't get any more out of the genius, Leo gently shut the door and moved on to the youngest of the four: Michelangelo.

Mikey was the literal baby of the family at eight years old, and he seemed to have a never-ending supply of energy.

Of course, you couldn't tell that by how he was when Leo walked into the messy bedroom. The small turtle was lying almost completely still and devoid of all life except for the soft snores coming out of his partially-open mouth.

Utterly adorable.

Leo gently reached a hand out to his baby brother's shoulder and gave a light shake while he whispered, "C'mon, little buddy, time to get up."

The result was almost immediate with Mikey's blue eyes snapping open and his body leaping up so his arms were latched around Leo's waist. "Morning, Leo!"

"Morning, Bud. Sleep well?" While he spoke, Leo managed to pry the little one's arms off of him so he could grab a strip of orange fabric from the nightstand and loosely tie it around his brother's neck. **[1]**

"Mm hm! I saw him again…"

Leo tried to not let himself stop his tying and remain stoic on the outside at Mikey's answer. The youngest turtle often had dreams with a certain figure, though Mikey claimed he could never see the details that well.

"Did he say anything last night?" At this point, Leo had finished tying the bandana and had grabbed the eight-year old behind the knees with his other hand on his carapace to lift the small child.

"Something about not fearing change…What do you think it means?" Leo gave a slight shrug as he gently pulled his brother up off his bed so he now was against the older turtle's plastron.

"C'mon, let's go get some breakfast."

"Okay…"

When the two siblings arrived in the kitchen, Leo gently placed Mikey in his chair and glanced around to see if the other two were n there as well. Next to where Mikey was sitting, Don was reading a book and writing notes, occasionally remembering he had a bowl of cereal in front of him to eat.

No Raphael, though.

Dammit, did he _try_ to make Leo's life more difficult?

"You two stay in here, I'll go get Raph," Leo announced as he grabbed a bucket from near the sink and started filling it up.

"Can I help?"

"No, Mikey, you stay here with Don." Before the youngest could argue anymore, the oldest was gone.

"Stay here," Don requested as he gently grabbed his younger brother's arm. Mikey complied, and soon enough, Donatello heard a splash from Raph's room and quickly covered the eight-year old's ears.

After sitting like that for several moments, Leonardo came back in, closely followed by a soaking Raphael.

"Morning, Raphie!" The eighteen-year old looked towards the voice, and almost instantly his bad mood vanished at the sight of his most innocent brother.

Leo watched as Raph put Mikey in a playful headlock, and he decided to pretend that Master Splinter was still meditating in his room, as he did every morning.

_~Locked Hearts~_

Raph wasn't always a huge fan of scavenging. Sure, it helped his family survive, but it also helped remind him that the humans on the surface would never accept them, so they had problems getting basic things like food.

Stupid humans…

Despite Leo never even hinting at it, Raph assumed that it was the humans' fault that he and his brothers were on their own. Oh, he wasn't stupid (despite what Leo and Donnie sometimes claimed); he knew Master Splinter hadn't been young when _it_ happened, but their father hadn't been weak, either. There was no way his death was natural.

When the two oldest returned to the Lair, it was insanely quiet.

To some, it would mean a bit of peace, but with Mikey, quiet was _never_ a good thing. That kid always found _some_ way to make quite the noise pollution (sometimes worrying Leo about the humans on the surface hearing him), and if he was quiet, there was something wrong.

"Don?! Mikey?!" Leo called as he put his bag in the kitchen and ran into the living room, where the younger half often would be while the older half was out.

The sight that greeted Leo was a pale Mikey sleeping on the couch with Donnie kneeling next to him.

"What's going on?"

At the sound of the oldest's voice, the genius turned his head, revealing that his brown eyes were filled with tears, and let out a hoarse whisper.

"He's sick…I'm not sure if I can do anything…

**[1] They all wear their masks in here, just in different ways. This sentence refused to be worded...not awkwardly.**

**A/N: Blame my friend for sick Mikey! *hides***

**Stephanie: *pulls me out* Explain!**

**Fine...Basically, one night, I was talking with someone about how in every incarnation, April and Casey don't know each other until after meeting the turtles, so I thought "What if they were already married and had a daughter?" (because I wanted Shadow to be in a show)...Next morning, I learned that Ciro initially had an idea of Splinter no longer being alive _during_ the show, so the turtles were on their own before meeting April...It was deemed "Too dark" (because what does air isn't dark at all in the slightest)**

**I _loved_ the idea, especially since we always get to see how they are when they think Splinter's gone but also think there's a chance at getting him back. I thought it would've been interesting to see them with no chance at getting him back...**

**Thus, this baby was born. I forget why I had them different ages (wanna say it's from the "Ask Big Bro Leo" blog on tumblr), but it'll work out. Especially when Raph and Donnie *spoilers*, then later Donnie *spoilers* so Leo *spoilers*, but then Mikey *spoilers* and yay.**

**...Love y'all!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Happy mother's day! What better way to celebrate than by letting Raph and Don meet-Whoop, I'll just let you read.**

**Disclaimer: Yep, I totally own it! *sarcasm***

Leo sighed to himself as he leaned up against the doorway to their "sick room", in which Don was working on trying to figure out what was wrong with Mikey, despite the genius's insistence of not knowing what had happened.

He had to know more than he would let on.

Why wouldn't he share, though?

"You alright, Leo?"

"Yeah, Raph, just worried."

Raph gave a small nod of understanding. Out of the three of them, Leo had taken Splinter's death the hardest (Mikey had been too young to understand what was going on at the time). He suddenly had to step up from being a big brother to being the parent of them, practically sacrificing his own needs for the younger three.

One thing Raph had discovered, however, was that Leo was scared of losing them. That's why he tended to get so overprotective and panicked whenever something happened to them.

"He'll be fine. Donnie knows what he's doing."

Leo let out another sigh, unable to come up with a reasonable response. He wanted to agree, but some sort of foreboding sense hung over him.

Last time he had it as bad as he did now was before Splinter had died.

"Guys, come here!" Don called, not easing Leo's worries. "I think I know what's wrong."

"What's the verdict, then?" Donnie nervously chewed on his lip in thought, unsure how to explain what was happening to their baby brother—especially to Leo.

"Fluid in his lungs…It's draining itself mostly…but…" Donnie adverted his gaze from his oldest brother and worked at making the younger turtle more comfortable. "Need medicine."

"I get the feeling you don't have the needed medicine?" Leo asked, already knowing the answer. When Donnie shook his head, the oldest glanced between the two youngest before letting out a sigh. No matter which he chose, one of them would be in some form of danger. It was simply trying to pick the lesser of the two evils.

"Take Raph with you. He's been up there before and knows the dangers already. I'll keep an eye on Mikey while you're gone." Leo then sat down next to the baby of the family as if to prove his point, gently grabbing the younger's hand.

"Leo, are you sure about this? Don's never been topside."

"Which is why you're going with him."

Leo tried not to let his internal shaking show through his voice. He _knew_ it was risky sending Donatello topside! He couldn't let Mikey stay sick and become worse if there was some way to help him, though.

Plus, despite being younger, Raph was better at getting around topside, especially in high populous areas, which was where they would need to go to get the medicine.

"Please, guys?"

Raph was about to oppose with a reminder on how risky this was, but that pleading tone in Leo's voice…

He had to do this.

"Alright Leo, we'll go."

* * *

Donnie really had no clue what he expected to be topside. Danger, he knew that much. That was all Raph and Leo would share.

Knowingly, at least.

From a young age, Donnie had always craved knowledge, and because of that, Leo would always give him the books he found scavenging.

They may have shown plenty of the evil and dangers of the upper world, but they also showed many _wonders_.

That was what he wanted to see.

He knew he had to focus, though; Mikey was depending on them.

"Come on, Don, we're almost there."

The genius turtle snapped out of his thoughts and hustled forward a bit to catch up to his big brother, grabbing onto the red bandana around his upper arm for an anchor.

"See it down there?"

Donnie looked towards where his brother was pointing, and sure enough, there was a small building with symbols associated with healthcare.

"Follow me."

Don mutely nodded before he ran after his brother and they went to the back of the drugstore to find a locked door. Of course, that didn't stop the brothers, thanks to a paper clip hidden in Raph's bandana.

While Raph picked the lock, Donnie started playing with the purple bandana tied around his wrist. Leo had given it to him a bit after their father's death, claiming it was from him.

At first glance, it seemed quite simple—just a purple strip of cloth. However, if you looked closely, you could see a faint design of a five-petal flower incased in a circle.

The symbol of the Hamato Clan.

At least, that's what Leo claimed it was. That had been their father's clan back in Japan before he came to America and took upon his rat form.

"It's open, let's go."

The two mutants hustled into the building at that announcement, immediately heading to an aisle with bottles of pills and other medicines filling the shelves.

Now, Donnie loved his brothers, he really did, but sometimes, he simply found them exasperating.

"Is this what we need?" the older of the two asked, holding out a bottle that _really_ wouldn't help Mikey (least he hoped it wouldn't).

Don shook his head for an answer, much to Raph's irritation. Donatello knew that Raph wanted to help as much as he can, but this position just wasn't for him. So, he pointed to the door and suggested, "Guard watch."

Raph gave the younger a smile before heading to the door to keep anyone from walking in on them.

Meanwhile, Don continued searching through the bottles to find the one Mikey needed.

"I can't find it!"

Raph cussed to himself at that response before looking around the store and locking his gaze on the backroom.

"Back room, behind the counter!"

Donnie nodded once (though Raph didn't see it) and climbed over the counter to start searching more. One of them _had_ to be—

There it was!

Donnie untied his bandana and gathered several of the bottles together before tying them together and climbing back over the counter out of the room.

"Got it!"

Raph stood by the door until his brother was right by him, then the two kids raced out of the store, but before they could get too far, they were stopped by running into something.

"Whoops, sorry there—whoa."

Scratch that, some_one_.

**A/N: Cookie to whoever can guess who they ran into.**

**Oh, and I will be trying to post previews and stuff on my tumblr (link's in my profile), along with kind of "what would thoughts be if I did this" type posts. No one follows me, so I just thought I'd put it out there.**

**Happy Mother's Day!**


	3. I'M SORRY IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

**A/N: Hi, sorry about this...but...**

**My wifi's been disconnected. And when I say "my" wifi, I mean just mine: There are exactly four laptops, five kindles, and three smartphones in this house, and only my kindle and my laptop don't have any connection. I was going to just type on my laptop and use a blank CD I found to transfer files to my mom's computer and post them here...But...check this out. *directs you to the front of my mom's computer* See that big hole there? That should be the disc drive.**

**Stephanie: So we're gonna bug her uncle later for a flash drive. Odds of it working? Slim. So don't expect any new stories up for a while.**

**I am so freaking sorry about this, I wanted to ****_avoid_**** this kind of thing happening again, but my parents suck.**

**Stephanie: We'll be back once we find a flash drive, hack the wifi, or talk someone into fixing it.**

***head desk***


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yay, I'm on for a couple minutes while my parents are at a wedding.**

**Quil: Now if Stephanie would be useful...**

**...Yeah. Guys, meet Quil! She started as a doodle in driver's ed (yes I was paying attention), and now she's gonna show up in a _Sonic Underground_ fic..If I ever finish the first chapter..._  
_**

**Anyway, I get to go to creative writing camp next week, so yay, wi-fi. Uh, I swear there was a point in this story where I just stared groaning and suffering through it...**

**Disclaimer: Nope!**

Raph pushed Donnie behind him when they ran into the human. This was _not_ their day…

"What are you two doing back here?"

Raph ran a million options through his mind of what to say—he seriously doubted that she would accept an answer of them stealing medicine for their brother.

"We were looking around. My brother thought he heard something back here."

The woman seemed to contemplate the lie for a moment, and Donnie took that moment to slowly back up and find an escape route.

"Do you guys-"

She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Donnie falling over something in the alley and dropping the medicine.

"Oh my gosh, are you alright?!" the woman exclaimed as she tried to get close to the smaller mutant, but Raph beat her to it by pushing her with his shell.

Of course, that one action allowed their secret to unravel.

"What's wrong with your back?" She gently ran her hand over the keratin **[1]**. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it felt like a shell…"

Donnie and Raph both looked at each other with wide eyes, trying to silently communicate in the dark of the alley.

'_We're screwed.'_

"Guys, is everything alright?"

"We're fine…right, Don?"

"Bottles!"

This was one of those moments Raph wished that Don didn't have so many problems talking. What could 'bottles' mean—

Oh crap.

"What happened to them?"

"Fell."

Dammit. "Did they spill?"

"No, just bottles."

"What's going on?"

Raph cussed to himself again at the woman's question. He forgot she was there.

"Nothing. We need to get home before our brother starts to worry."

"Your brother?"

"…We need to go,' Raph repeated as he grabbed the medicine bottles. "Don't worry, Don, I've got them."

"Guys, it's late. I don't think you should be wandering the city yourselves at this hour. Why don't you—"

"We can get home on our own,' Raph interrupted as he and Don got up. "C'mon, Donnie. Let's get going."

"Wait!" The woman picked another of the medicine bottles up off the ground and asked, "What do you guys need these for?"

"Give that back!"

"Answer my question! You're stealing medicine, and I haven't called the cops yet, so I think I deserve some explanation."

The three of them stood in that silent alleyway for several moments before it was broken by a small, shaky voice.

"No choice…" Raph shot a small glare at his brother, but Donnie continued. "Our brother's sick…we need to help him…"

"I can help you, just don't hide."

"You wouldn't help us if you knew what we were," Raph explained as he grabbed Donnie's arm and took the medicine from the woman's hand. "We have to _go_ now."

"…Bye…" Donnie bidded as he left with his brother, completely forgetting that he didn't have his bandanna.

* * *

"Where are they?" Leo asked himself has he glanced at a clock. They should've been back by now…

"Leo?"

That was the only reason he hadn't gone out to search for them—Mikey couldn't be left alone.

"Yeah, bud?"

"Is everything alright? You seem upset."

The older let out a sigh at his little brother's knack for knowing when something was up. It certainly made it difficult to keep things from him.

"Yeah, don't worry, Mikey. I'm just being my overprotective self."

"Oh…Where are Raphie and Donnie?"

"Don't worry, they'll be back soon."

Just as he said that, the sound of their brothers returning home reached their eardrums.

"Leo, can you come here real quick?"

Oh boy, what did they do?

"Mikey? Can I go see what's going on?"

"Yeah…"

The oldest gave the smaller turtle a small head rub as he got up and went to the main room to see what his brothers were up to.

…There were days he really didn't understand Raph's judgment.

"Donnie, why don't you go check on Mikey while I talk with Raph?"

The younger turtle looked up hat his oldest brother to protest, but he saw the glare towards Raph and quickly left so he wouldn't get caught up in one of their fights.

"Wait, Leo, I know you're mad, but I can explain—"

"Yes, _Raphael_, do explain why you not only broke my biggest rule of not letting humans see you, but you _let_ a human _into our home_!"

"Uh, Leo, if you don't mind, I can explain—" the woman behind Raph interjected before being cut off with a glare. "Sorry…"

"Leo, she wants to help. You don't have to be scared of everything!"

"I-I'm not…I just worry for your guys' safety…" Raph couldn't help but recoil slightly at the hurt in Leo's voice, but before he could say anything, April did.

"I can assure you, I will do no damage to your family. My name's April Jones, and I just want to help you guys with your little brother."

Leo nervously chewed on his lip in thought. Just a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils…again.

The universe had a strange sense of humor.

"Fine. But, I get to be in there with you, and I won't hesitate to eliminate you if you become a threat to my family." To help prove his point, the turtle pulled a knife out of his belt and held it defensively towards April.

"Understood." Leo let out a breath of relief and gestured for April to go to the med bay first.

**[1] Haha and my dad thinks I can write without internet. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**A/N: *Yawns* Well, there's a new episode...maybe it'll break my streak of episodes that p-s me off with the endings (the latest two have)...Anyway, I'm gonna go take a nap. Love y'all!**


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